This application claims priority to GB Application No. 9916459.2 filed Jul. 15, 1999.
The invention to which this application relates is to provide an improvement in the function and utility of a television system in a manner to improve the use of the system. One particular but not exclusive use is with reference to what is known as an Electronic Program Guide.
An electronic programme Guide (EPG) is provided to the user of a television system to display programme schedules and also provide additional information about selected programmes, and the presentation of the information in particular forms and groups which can be selected and controlled by the user. The EPG is displayed on a television screen or monitor and is compiled from data received by a broadcast data receiver connected to the screen. The EPG data is typically broadcast as part of the broadcast data which is used to generate the video and audio displays for the programmes.
With the development of digital television in the form of satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast systems, the proliferation of television channels which can be selected to be viewed has been dramatic and as a result the only practical way in which to provide details of the programmes available to be watched is to provide the information in an EPG format on screen which, at least initially, normally comprises a grid which indicates at least some of the channels which are available, a time bar representing a time period and an indication of the programmes which are available to be watched on the displayed channels within the time period.
A result of the proliferation of television channels is that many broadcasters now repeat the programmes a number of times over a relatively short period of time of say a day, week or month. The reasons for this can be to allow the viewing of the programme by as many interested users as possible given that if a person cannot watch the programme at a particular time of display they should be free to watch one of the repeat showings of the same.
While it is found that the repeat showings of programmes can be of advantage it can act as an irritant to viewers who find that they are watching a repeat of a recently shown programme which they have already watched or, if using the EPG, a programme which is displayed on screen for the particular time period may be a repeat of a programme already viewed and which is being repeated in the time period of the EPG which is displayed at the instant. In the use of the EPG the irritation is caused by the fact that the user has to check or look through all the programmes on the EPG display and then find that they have already viewed some of them and this wastes time and can cause confusion to the viewer.
The aim of the present invention is to provide an improvement to a television system whereby programmes which have already been viewed by a user and which are subsequently repeated are indicated such as by an indication on the screen or on the EPG thereby indicating to the viewer the repeat of a previously watched programme which they can then decide relatively quickly to disregard.
In a first aspect of the invention there is provided a television system for displaying a selected programme from a plurality of programmes available to be viewed by a user of the system, said system comprising a broadcast data receiver for receiving broadcast video, audio and auxiliary data and generating video on a screen from the data, a means for the user selection of programmes to be viewed and characterised in that the system further includes a database in which information relating to those programmes which have been selected to be viewed by the user, is stored.
In one embodiment the database stores information identifying the programmes selected for viewing by the user and if any of the programmes subsequently selected to be viewed by the user are already identified in the database this is indicated to the user. In one form the indication is provided by an on screen display such as a text message or icon.
In an alternative embodiment the indication to the user is provided via an Electronic programme Guide (EPG) display which is selectively generated on screen and which displays to the user a number of programmes available to be selected to be watched and those programmes which have previously been selected for viewing by the user are indicated as such by a visual indication.
In one embodiment of the invention the EPG display comprises a time bar indicative of a time period, and a series of channels for which programmes are displayed in a grid containing a number of cells, each cell representing a programme available to be viewed within the time period indicated. In accordance with the invention those cells which represent programmes which are repeated and have already been viewed by the user are differentiated, typically visually, to the user. The means for differentiating can be any of shading, change in colour, the generation of a message or icon or the like.
The database can be provided to hold information relating to programmes which have been selected to be viewed during a preceding designated time period such as a week or a month. In one embodiment the database can be provided to indicate whether the whole or part of a programme has already been watched and, if only part of the programme has been previously watched, indicate this to the user.
One means of implementing the invention is for the broadcaster of the data to broadcast a unique identification code, or the broadcast data receiver generates a unique identification code, for each programme, which code is identified by the broadcast data receiver and the codes for those programmes which have been selected to be watched are input into the database.
Thus, when the user selects to watch a programme or a programme is displayed on an EPG the code for the programme is compared with those held in the database and if there is a match a message is generated to the user to indicate that they have already watched the programme. If an EPG is to be generated, the codes for the programmes which are to be displayed in the EPG are checked against those in the database and, if there is a match, the display for the particular programmes is changed on the EPG to differentiate the same.
In one embodiment the broadcaster may only send identifying codes for those programmes which are to be repeated within a certain time period so that if the programme has no code it is ignored by the system whether or not it is watched by the user and it is only if the programme has a code that the same is stored in the database if the user selects to watch it.
In an alternative embodiment if the user selects a programme from the EPG a search is undertake of the EPG data to ascertain whether that programme is to be repeated. If so the user can have the option of inputting a signal so that the subsequent repeat showings of the programme are differentiated on the EPG. This embodiment would mean that the broadcaster need not forward signals and that the user can control the display to indicate the repeat showings.
In a further feature of the invention, and especially where the system is being used by a number of persons, each person may not have seen a previously watched programme so that one or some of the persons may wish to watch the repeat showing. In this instance the differentiation of, for example, the EPG is of value as it indicates when the repeat is shown and in this embodiment a personal viewing profile is generated so that the subsequent differentiation on the EPG or message on screen to indicate that the programme has already been watched will also indicate the person or persons who previously watched the programme. It is envisaged that some form of code can be input by the user before selecting programmes to watch.
A specific embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein;